Community Connections July 2018
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JULY 2018 Have you checked out our new website? www.ancad.org.nz 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS: ANCAD’S 44TH AGM 5 Ten year budget boost for the Shore 6-7 Farewell to Prachi Mittal 8-9 Takapuna Wishing Tree Event: Summary of the day 10-13 FIVE GOOD IDEAS: Professional Development 14-15 NSBS: Budget Advisor Training 16-17 Policy Watch Budget Special 18-19 Government Child Wellbeing Strategy 20-21 Welfare Review 22-23 LEAD: Centre for NFP Leadership 24-27 Jazz Vespers 2018: Takapuna Methodist Church 28 ANCAD awarded Arthur Coombes Memorial Cup 29 MAC Te Ao Maori exhibition 30 Kaipatiki Environmental Project events: 31-34 Babysitting Workshops 35 Devonport Initiatives 35 Preschool Play 36 Winter play 37 Community Venue Hire and other services 38-45 Funding Closing Dates and Funding Directory 46-47 FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: 3 4 ANCAD 44th Annual General Meeting 25th July 2018, 12-2pm Channel View Lounge, Mary Thomas Centre 3 Gibbons Rd, Takapuna (lunch is provided) Guest Speaker: Councillor Richard Hills RSVP: [email protected] 5 Ten-year budget boost for the Shore After months of consultation, discussion and many council meetings we have passed our ten-year budget. It funds our libraries, rubbish, parks, sports fields, water quality, action kauri dieback, arts, events, community services, the zoo, roads, public transport and everything in between. Our budget includes a record $26 billion investment in infrastructure with significant benefits here on the North Shore. We voted unanimously as a Council with Mayor Goff to support the budget and the significant improvements we will make to transport, water, and the environment. This will finally allow us to protect what we have while investing in our future. Local residents tell me their priorities are: improving public transport and unclogging our roads, fixing water quality problems, protecting our coast from erosion, and making it safer for local kids to walk and cycle to school. This is the largest ever budget to address these priorities and I look forward to help delivering on them. Large transport projects for the North Shore include: securing $47m for the Lake Road upgrade that will focus on transit lanes, intersection optimisation and walking and cycling. We worked with Auckland Transport and Devonport Takapuna Local Board on this, and funding from the regional fuel tax enables it be brought forward to 2020/2021. The long awaited Skypath across the harbour is happening over the next three years which will join up with Seapath bringing Takapuna and surrounding suburbs within walking and cycling distance of the city for the first time ever. The New Network will increase bus service capacity on the Shore by 45% this September. 6 Our transport agreement with Government will fund urgent route protection and investigation for a third harbour crossing. $60million is budgeted for the first time to kick this off. It is likely to start with light rail and we’ve worked to bring the project forward around 15 years from where the last Government agreement had it listed. Funding in the budget for upgrades and investment in Takapuna and Northcote centres sits at over $70million currently. Transport projects outside the Shore will also keep us moving: upgrades and extension to the downtown ferry terminal will enable us to increase services to and from the city; Penlink will link Whangaparoa to the CBD; the Northern Busway extends from Constellation to Albany with bus lanes to Silverdale which reduces congestion in our suburbs and on the bridge. We are addressing water quality issues with the safe swim programme and upgrading the stormwater system at Takapuna Beach, with works across public and private pipe systems being extensively tested and works being looked at for quick fixes and long term strategies to protect our beach. We are protecting our kauri with an increase in funding from $5m to $100m to keep kauri dieback out of our native bush reserves, large increases to action on pests and weeds, climate and coastal erosion budgets have been created to help us deal with the constant damage to our coastline due to storms and king tides. We’ve also been able to increase our regional arts grants, sports partnership funding and funding to the Auckland Art Gallery and so much more. Although no budget will do everything we want at once, it is a huge improvement and I’m excited that it’s investing far more than ever before into our communities. Contact me for further information: [email protected] 7 Farewell to Prachi Mittal On behalf of the team at ANCAD we would like to thank Prachi Mittal for the amazing work she has done to establish the firm foundations of the Takapuna Community Hub – Kotahitanga. A place that has brought the vision to fruition of a collective space that supports – ‘Enhanced community connection, support, capability and wellbeing.’ We see the phenomenal success of the Wishing Tree event as a culmination of her stellar stewardship in the Hub Coordination role. We wish Prachi all the best as she heads off on maternity leave, an exciting new addition to the Mittal household due to arrive in July. I look forward to imminent cuddles and hopefully the opportunity to work with Prachi again in the not too distant future; her skills and knowledge have been a huge asset to the team. You will be missed! Warmest, Deb Humphries (Photo left: FVPN Coordinator, North Shore, Deb Humphries with Prachi Mittal, May 2018) 8 Members of the Takapuna Wishing Tree— Event Organising Committee; 2018 White Ribbon Event held at the Takapuna Community Hub—Kotahitanga, with partners from the North Shore Family Violence Prevention Network, 2017 9 Takapuna Wishing Tree: Summary of the day The spirit of community wellbeing and accessibility for all has been the driving force of the Takapuna Community Hub - Kotahitanga since its establishment in 2017. The Hub has focused on being a space where the community can access support programmes for children and adults, enjoy family friendly activities and come together for learning and professional development. In keeping with the spirit of the Hub, the Takapuna Wishing Tree event was planned and executed in partnership with the Shore to Thrive initiative of ANCAD and Takapuna Methodist Church and was provided key guidance by the North Shore Family Violence Prevention Network Coordinator- Deb Humphries. The grand Oak tree outside the Mary Thomas Centre provided us with the perfect setting for our very own wishing tree event on 29th May 2018. The Hub and rest of the building came alive with the buzz of the event. The wishing tree event gave us all a chance to share a collective space that represents our wishes, hopes and dreams. Everyone was invited to write a little wish and put it up on the Oak tree. Twenty-eight community organisations participated in a bustling services expo on the day: North Shore Women’s Centre, Home & Family Counselling Services, North Harbour Living Without Violence, YES Disability, Connecting Support Recovery, Anglican Trust for Women and Children, Family Works Northern, Barnardos, Hearts and Minds, Strengthening Families, Centres for Mutual Aid, Whānau Marama Parenting, YMCA, Waitemata DHB, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Takapuna Library, Bays Youth Community Trust, Salvation Army, Takapuna North Community Trust, HELP, 10 Eat Right Be Bright, Global Action Plan Oceania , North Shore Budgeting Service, Auckland North Community and Development Inc., Live Healthy, Willow Farm Therapy, Community Action on Youth and Drugs; and the Lakehouse Arts Centre. Breathtaking music and dance performances were offered at the Wishing Tree by the students of Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ) and the Chinese group Duolan Dance. A rousing Kapahaka performance by the Aru Waihirere group was the most befitting way to close the event. Volunteers from the Takapuna Methodist Church who came for the event were instrumental in the smooth facilitation of the activities on the day. Hero Coffee and the Olas Food Truck kept participants and organizers fueled with great coffee and food. Children from Academy for Gifted Education (Takapuna), Murrays Bay Intermediate, Long Bay Primary, YMCA school holiday programmes and Bayswater Kaitahi shared their wishes and have given us a lot of food for thought to work towards creating communities that our children want to live in. Above: People placing their wishes for the community on the ‘Wishing Tree” outside the Mary Thomas Centre., Gibbons Rd, Takapuna 11 The event received some great media coverage in the local North Shore Times and Channel magazine. People continued to make wishes on the tree and at the Takapuna library for a week after the event. Now a process of transcribing and consolidating these wishes is underway. Some key themes have already emerged from the wishes which indicate the priorities of the community we live and work in: - clean beaches - shared gardens - effective rubbish collection - facilities for youth - better parking and public transport - community safety and wellbeing Takapuna Library was amazing in offering support to the event. From promotion of the event to running children’s activities on the day and ongoing post event support, The Library staff have been phenomenal. A public display of the consolidated wishes will be available for viewing at Takapuna Library once all the wishes have been transcribed. Watch this space. The Glenfield Men’s Shed created a wonderful wooden wishing tree that was placed at Takapuna Library for people to continue wishing after the event and will also be part of the public display of wishes in the future. 12 ANCAD staff are grateful to all those who supported the event and endeavour to be guided by the uplifting community spirit that was generated by it in their work.